[jdurg]

Just wanted to let everyone know that I will be absent for about a week here.  My best friend is getting married on Saturday and I am flying down to the Gulf Coast to be in the wedding for him.  I leave tomorrow morning out of LaGuardia provided that the impending snowstorm doesn't ground that idea.  If everything goes as planned, I will arrive in New Orleans sometime tomorrow afternoon where instead of it being in the lower 30's like it is here in the Northeast, it will be in the lower 70's.    So if I don't die, I'll be back in a week.

Ciao!

 

[constant thinker]

So your going from New York a fully 100% functioning large city to New Orleans a city that is like barely getting by and doesn't have half as many people as it used to.

I hope his wedding isn't in New Orleans.

[mike]

So your going from New York a fully 100% functioning large city to New Orleans a city that is like barely getting by and doesn't have half as many people as it used to.

I hope his wedding isn't in New Orleans.

constant thinker, what the hell are you talking about?!?

I don't understand..

[Donaldson Tan]

I hope his wedding isn't in New Orleans.

Is New Orleans in the Gulf Coast?

[constant thinker]

Yes it is. It got hit by huricane Katrina (a Cat. 5 storm) over the summer and was like devasted. The city is still half in ruins. Sorry I forgot that not everyone lives in the U.S. I apoligize. I forget this forum is an international conglomeration of people really.

[jdurg]

I returned this past Sunday and had a complete blast down there.  The wedding was in Hattiesburg, Mississippi which is a good deal inland so there were no troubles there.  I spent a good deal of time down in Pascagoula, Biloxi, Ocean Springs, Gulfport, and various other cities/towns along the coast.  There are still areas where everything is just completely wiped out, but there are also areas where the rebuilding is just about done and things are nearly back to normal.  Yeah there are things which are still completely destroyed and the rubble and devastation is still there to be seen, but construction crews are working 24-7 in order to get things back in order.  It's just a real shame when you go down to some of the rural areas of the gulf coast and see that nothing has been done in the 3 months since the storm.  Houses are simply piles of rubble, and for those that are still standing you can see right through them as the only things that remain are the studs and support beams.  It's really something that you need to see to believe as all the pictures and videos in the world don't portray the total devastation the area has experienced.

We did spend one evening in New Orleans, and I'll say that it's an experience that I'll never forget.  The French Quarter is about 90% functional with a few bars still not working.  I have to state that I went there on a Thursday Night in December so it's not really a good gauge on just how back to normal the city is, but it was still pretty busy.  There were not a helluva lot of women there, sadly, and the women you did see where actually female impersonators.  (Funny, but disgusting).  I did a helluva lot of drinking and all the booze down there is dirt cheap.  It's very good booze (Top Shelf stuff like Jack Daniels' Single Barrel Whiskey), but not expensive at all.  I probably spent about $80 on booze, food, shirts, and other random things.  I guess we really won't see just how much of New Orleans there is until Mardi Gras hits.  By then, however, I think all the bars/restaurants will be back.  Outside of the French Quarter, however, is a different story.  New Orleans has never really been a clean and tidy city for the well-off, but it looks really bad right now.  Walking alone in any of the side streets is NOT something you should do.

[constant thinker]

Cool you said just what I wanted to know. Things were like I thought. The poorer parts of the city are still in ruins but the French Quarter is up and running for the most part. Hobefully things will be up and running 100% (except the poorest parts of the city as long as contruction has really started there) by Mardi Gras, for New Orleans sake. City planners should take this oppurtunity to rebuild the city better than it was before. Housing should be cheap also.